Friday, June 28, 2013

It is
impossible for me to imagine what they´re going through. “Every day we
think about what could happen. There are children living there,” they
told me. In my head I pictured the house I grew up in that sits on a
small farm in rural Minnesota. I thought of the memories my family and I
share there. I became who I am in that house. What if someone came when I
was a child and took it all away? What if that house were burned to the
ground with all our possessions inside? What if there were nothing we
could do to stop it because it was a legal eviction and the people demolishing
our home were members of the U.S. police and military? This is precisely
what is happening to many Honduran families and their homes in San Isidro, a
rural community in Honduras´ Aguán Valley.

It´s not
U.S. police or military in this case; the security forces are Honduran.
But they receive U.S. tax dollars just the same. This money goes to arm
and train the same forces that are leaving families without their
homes. Members of San Isidro had a victory last year when the local court
ruled that the land they live on is rightfully theirs. Months later the lawyer
who was carrying the case, Antonio Trejo, was murdered. The landowner’s
attorney had the court overturn its decision. Now the land the people of
San Isidro live on, and thus, the houses they live in, legally belong
to “the richest man in Honduras,” Miguel Facussé. To protect his
land he has contracted private security guards. “They`re basically
paramilitaries,” I was told by one community member. “They all work
together, the police, the military and Facussé´s private guards.” Rather
than protect the people of Honduras, the Honduran police and military are collaborating
to protect the richest man of Honduras so that he can become even richer.Today
marks the 4th anniversary of the
2009 Honduran coup d’etat. In the four years since the coup, stories similar to
this one have played out far too many times across the Aguán Valley. Groups of
small farmers have worked to prevent their evictions, to maintain their right
to work the land and harvest food for their families. Large landowners have
evicted them with force and targeted attacks and assassinations. In 2011
President of the Movimiento Auténtico Renovador Campesino, Secundino Ruiz
Vallecillo, was murdered. In 2012 José Braulio Díaz Lopez, secretary of El
Tranvio / the Associative Peasant Enterprise, was also murdered. They are among
the more than 100 campesinos who have been killed in the Aguán Valley since 2009. And, since the coup d’etat has created
a situation of mass impunity, few if any cases have been successfully brought
to court.Across
Honduras, we can see similar patterns. The Honduran government has made
numerous concessions of land and rivers for mining projects and hydroelectric
dams, often against the wishes of the communities living in those areas. When
the communities have stood up for their rights, they've faced intimidation,
militarization, and armed repression. The case of Berta Cáceres, the general
coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras
(COPINH), who was detained by the government and brought to trial, is only one recent example of retaliatory actions against human rights defenders who are standing up to corporations.
In a further concession to corporate interests, the Congress has also passed a
law authorizing the creation of "Model Cities" - zones open for
economic development by a variety of Honduran and international interests, free
to establish their own budgets and create incentives for investment, "in which the constitution itself doesn't apply."

Rio Blanco community members and COPINH
protest the hydroelectric dam project, May 2013Photo credit: CICA

U.S. military aid is contributing to the abuse of Honduran human rights defenders. We must tell our representatives to end military aid to Honduras. U.S. tax dollars should not pay to demolish small farmers' homes. U.S. activists in solidarity with Honduras have made some progress in the last four
years: the State Department has redirected a small part of the millions that
it gives the Honduran police while the police chief is investigated for his
links to human rights abuses.But much
more work remains. Dana Frank reports: "U.S. military expenditures for
Honduras in particular have gone up every year since 2009....at $67.4 million,
2012 Defense Department contracts for Honduras are triple those of 10 years
ago. The U.S. spent $25 million last year to make the U.S. barracks at the Soto
Cano air base permanent, and $89 million to keep 600 U.S. troops based there.
U.S. direct aid to the Honduran military and police continues to climb as
well."As we
reflect on the four years since the coup occurred, we remember our Honduran
brothers and sisters whose commitment to basic human rights and dignity in
Honduras has cost them their lives. We must continue to demand that the U.S.
withdraw financial and diplomatic support for the Honduran government until
attacks like these cease._______________________________________________________

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Five members of the Honduran National Police guarded the entrance of the court in Santa Barbara, Honduras. A crowd stood in front of them, chanting: “Our land is not for sale! It should be taken care of and defended!” A late afternoon rain started to fall but the crowd didn't disperse, because the moment they’d been waiting for all day had arrived. The gates opened and Berta Caceres emerged to let them know the verdict.Witness for Peace has previously written about the detention of Berta Caceres, coordinator of the Council of Popular and Indigenous Organizations of Honduras (COPINH). On May 24th, Berta was detained by the Honduran military, after a week of traveling and speaking out against the construction of a hydroelectric dam in the communities of Rio Blanco. She was held overnight and subsequently granted a conditional release, on the basis that she report to the court in Esperanza every week and she not leave the country under any circumstances. Her hearing was scheduled for June 13th at the Santa Barbara court.

Military presence in the center square in Santa Barbara on the day of Berta Caceres's trial.Photo by Witness for Peace Nicaragua/Honduras team

As members of the Witness for Peace Nicaragua/Honduras team, we headed to the court that morning. We observed a truck full of members of the Honduran army pulling up to the center square, which is two blocks away from the location of both the court hearing and the rally in support of Berta. Various officers, armed and wearing fatigues, were stationed on the side of the square closest to the rally. Additionally, about 15 members of the National Police were stationed at various points along the block where the activity was taking place. Upon our arrival to the entrance of the court, we witnessed a crowd upwards of 70 people. Members of the crowd led spontaneous chants. One by one, representatives of indigenous organizations, campesino cooperatives and organizations, and women´s organizations spoke up. They called for the charges against Berta to be dropped and her full rights as a citizen be restored. They condemned those companies across Honduras that are taking advantage of land and rivers to develop mining projects, hydroelectric dams, and large-scale agriculture, without the consent of the local communities. They further condemned the militarization, intimidation, and violent repression against those who are organizing and defending their communities against members of the Honduran police, Honduran military, and private security forces.Witness for Peace met Santos Dominguez, a resident of La Union, who spoke at the rally. She explained that since April 1st, members of her community and the nearby communities in the Rio Blanco region have been occupying a section of the local highway to protest the construction of the hydroelectric dam by the Chinese company Sinohydro – the same project Berta Caceres had been speaking up about in the week before she was detained. Santos told us that the company consulted only with a handful of community members before initiating the project – one person from La Union, and between one to three other people from each of the nearby communities. These opinions were not representative of the communities on the whole, she said. She spoke of a recent day when 30 police officers arrived at the location where the highway was occupied, trying to intimidate community members. She added that on five separate accounts, community members had been forcibly removed from the location. “They look at us as if we were nothing. They don’t respect us,” she said.Santos, along with many others who are defending their community and their right to protect its natural resources, showed up on the day of the hearing to stand in solidarity with Berta. After a day outside under the hot sun, the crowd heard the verdict. The judge rejected the evidence presented by the accusing party, and as such the restrictive measures on Berta were lifted. She is no longer required to conduct weekly check-ins and is now permitted to leave the country. The case remains open for the time being. The result fell short of what her attorneys believe she deserved: the charges completely dropped and her rights fully restored. However, they qualified it as a victory.

Berta Caceres speaks to reporters after announcing the verdict.Photo by Witness for Peace Nicaragua/Honduras team

In the case of Berta, a victory has been won against the alliance between large-scale business interests and elements of the Honduran security forces who seek to intimidate and violently repress human rights defenders. Yet the fight is long from over; Berta and other human rights defenders remain vulnerable. In conversations we had throughout the day with various members of communities that are being militarized, the Witness for Peace team heard strong support for U.S. campaignsseeking to end U.S. funding for Honduran security forces. We call on all U.S. citizens who want to stand in solidarity with Hondurans facing extreme repression, to join in this fight.________________________________________________________

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Berta Cáceres interviewed by Padre Melo the night before she was detainedPhoto by Witness for Peace Honduras Team

It was late that night when we followed Berta Cáceres and Tomás Gomez Membreño out of Radio Progreso to their parked pick-up truck. Berta had just spoken on the program, América Libre (Free America) about the situation that an indigenous Lenca community is facing in the department of Intibucá. The street was quiet and mostly deserted except for a car parked directly behind theirs. Its motor was running and the windows were tinted. As we got into the truck the car drove away. Berta explained that they are under constant and heavy surveillance. The following evening both she and Tomás were detained at a military checkpoint.

Since the indigenous community of Río Blanco began its peaceful resistance to the hydroelectric project Agua Zarca on April 1, the leadership of the Council of Indigenous and Popular Organizations of Honduras (COPINH) has been subject to death threats and intimidation. The week leading up to their detention the two activists had been traveling all over the country, tirelessly working to achieve the community's goal of removing the project from the river. They met with lawyers, sat down with President Lobo and his administration, and gave interviews. Upon their return they were stopped at a military checkpoint and taken to a police station. Tomás was released late that night with no charges and Berta was released the next day. Berta was charged with illegally carrying a firearm, a charge she categorically denies. Berta’s lawyer asserts that the gun was planted to incriminate Berta.

Since the June 2009 coup d’état, criminalization of human rights defenders has drastically escalated. The U.S. government has been criticized for its failure to denounce the 2009 coup and for U.S. tax dollars that continue supporting Honduran police and military forces in the name of the War on Drugs. These forces are now defending the Honduran company DESA and the Chinese company SINOHYDRO, developers of the Agua Zarca project. Other major funders of the project include the World Bank, Central American Bank for Economic Integration and FICOHSA, a Honduran bank.

Padre Ismael Moreno Coto’s (Padre Melo) analysis is that hydroelectric projects like this one are not created to generate “clean” energy as investors claim, but rather to put water at the service of mining companies. “They’re dirty projects,” he stated. He explained that the new mining law approved earlier this year by the Honduran Congress allots a percentage of company revenue to the police and military. Essentially, state security forces are being paid to defend projects like Agua Zarca. These same forces

are receiving training and supplies paid for by U.S. tax dollars. The Honduran military’s 1st Battalion of Engineers is working with the hydroelectric project. Their equipment can be seen inside the project’s fence in the photo below.

Honduran police and military outside Agua Zarca on May 12thPhoto by CICA

The community of Río Blanco demands its right to informed prior consent as stipulated in Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (which has been ratified by the Honduran government). The Convention refers to the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. Since the Lenca community of Rio Blanco has not consented to the project, they are demanding its removal. Berta shared that soldiers wearing Convention 169 badges have been knocking on doors in the community and speaking against COPINH with the intent of creating distrust and defaming the organization. However, some government officials employ any tactic to disqualify the community from the protections of the Convention. One of the government officials with whom Berta and Tomás met in Tegucigalpa went so far as to negate the Lenca identity of the Río Blanco community, declaring it to be not indigenous at all, but rather one of small scale ladino farmers.

The community of Río Blanco demands its right to informed prior consent as stipulated in Convention 169 of the International Labour Organization (which has been ratified by the Honduran government). The Convention refers to the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples. Since the Lenca community of Rio Blanco has not consented to the project, they are demanding its removal. Berta shared that soldiers wearing Convention 169 badges have been knocking on doors in the community and speaking against COPINH with the intent of creating distrust and defaming the organization. However, some government officials employ any tactic to disqualify the community from the protections of the Convention. One of the government officials with whom Berta and Tomás met in Tegucigalpa went so far as to negate the Lenca identity of the Río Blanco community, declaring it to be not indigenous at all, but rather one of small scale ladino farmers.

It is indisputable that Berta and Tomás’s detention took place in the context of a country that's in the midst of an undeclared war against its own population; a country where defending human rights and speaking against impunity is deemed a crime by the state. Berta's trial has been set for June 13. From COPINH’s press release denouncing the incident, “For defense lawyer, Marcelino Martínez, this act is part of what is now becoming common practice in Honduras, one in which soldiers, who are trained to see citizens as the enemy, are authorized to take actions normally left to the police. As the lawyer asserts, the gun was planted to incriminate Berta… this is part of the criminalization of movement thanks to the militarization in this country, which is increasing every day.”

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This is your online resource for news, analysis, and action on U.S. foreign policy and corporate practice. You will also find stories of struggle and hope from our partners throughout Latin America.

Witness for Peace is a politically independent grassroots organization committed to nonviolence and led by faith and conscience. Witness for Peace's mission is to support peace, justice, and sustainable economies by changing the policies and practices which contribute to poverty and oppression in Latin America and the Caribbean.